Watch: Babar Azam dismissed for 29 in PAK vs SL tri-series 2026

Even though it was a dead rubber for Pakistan, given that they had already qualified for Saturday’s final of the tri-series 2026 after winning the game against England two nights ago, the match against Sri Lanka in Lahore was important for Babar Azam, who had poor scores of 10, 34, and 45 in the event. 

Sri Lanka’s captain, Kusal Mendis, won the toss and opted to bowl first on a good surface, which was expected to get better for the second innings under the lights. The hosts made two changes in the playing eleven by bringing in Maaz Sadaqat and Nassem Shah.

How Babar Azam was dismissed for 29 against Sri Lanka

Babar walked into the middle during the fourth over of the chase and opened his account with a third-ball boundary into the wide of the backward point region with a square-drive. He pulled Asitha Fernando with a fine boundary wide of the deep backward square-leg region.

Watch the dismissal of Babar here- 

The right-handed batter was looking in a good touch as he smashed another boundary against Dilshan Madushanka to the deep square leg region for a boundary, by picking the length early. In the ninth over of the innings, he smashed two successive boundaries against Fernando.

See Also: Watch: Babar Azam dismissed for 10 during PAK vs ENG tri series 2026

But his knock ended for 29 runs when he looked to prod forward against Eshan Malinga’s length delivery. He missed the connection of the blade, and the umpire raised his finger. It nipped in big and thudded the pads as the ball hit Babar on the knee as well.

How Pakistan struggled batting first against Sri Lanka

It was overall a very poor batting performance from the Pakistan side, who were bundled out for just 110 runs in the innings off 25.3 overs. Only four of their batters converted their scores into the double figures, while none of them was able to cross the 30-run mark.

Dilshan Madushanka, the left-arm pacer, returned with figures of 5/34 in his 8.3 overs, while Sahan Arachchige ended up with 2/24 in five overs at an economy rate of 4.80. Sri Lanka’s win from that position would ensure their qualification to the final of the event, where they would face the same opposition.

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Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 50/1 (Kamindu 31*, Shaheen Afridi 1/15) vs Pakistan 110 (Babar Azam 29, Hasan Nawaz 17, Dilshan Madushanka 5/34)